Summer Song - Chapter 2

Fifteen minutes later, Micki knocked on the door of the Davidisons. ‘Anyone home?’1

‘Oh it's you, Michelle. Come on in,’ Shirley’s voice rang out. The lady farmer took one look at the fourteen year old and pretended to be shocked. ‘Oh my heavens! Why if my eyes are still good, Michelle Jones is wearing…normal clothes!’2

‘Very funny. There’s no need to look all that thunderstruck. I wasn’t born with corncob earrings, you know. Besides, it’s too hot for overalls.’3

‘Not for me it ain’t.’ Shirley was a short, motherly, middle aged woman-farmer with a special fondness for Micki. She was probably the only one who called her by her full name. She ran the farm all by herself, ever since her husband died and her sons went off to Queensland with the sheep shearers. She was a very capable and determined person, very muck like Micki in that aspect. 4

‘Well, considering the fact that you used to live in Africa, im not surprised.’5

If there was one thing Mrs. Davidson liked to do, it was tell stories, especially stories when her husband had been a doctor in South Africa. Her most famous tale was when she was almost trampled on by an angry herd of elephants. The catch was, each time she found an audience, the elephants seemed to get a little larger and a little angrier, and her escape a little narrower.6

Shirley laughed. ‘Would you like a cup of tea? I’ve been meaning to put the kettle on.’7

‘Nah, I think I’ll pass. Its getting kind of late, and mum hates it when I come home after dark, especially since -’ Micki broke off abruptly and and bent down to fiddle with her shoelace for a second, then changed the subject. ‘I think ill go visit Judy before I go.’8

‘You’re sooky about that pig!’9

‘So’s everybody,’ Micki said stubbornly.10

‘Oh, all right Michelle, just don’t get too close today, she’s been ever so touchy since we took away her piglets. Oh! And I almost forgot! Be a dear, will you, and feed the chooks. It completely slipped me mind today, they’ll be half mad with hunger, they will!’11

‘Sure, Shirley. See you!’ Micki picked up the pail of chicken feed near the door and walked to the henhouse. The chooks were supposed to be free range, but there were rumors of a dingo in the district, so they were locked up for the time being. 12

‘Oh, shut up, you!’ she said as the hens pecked at her legs in anticipation. She scattered the feed, closed the gate and headed for the pig pen. Shirley’s farm was one of the most successful farms in the valley. It seemed pretty ironic, because when Shirley had started it out, it had been nothing more than a few acres of a hobby farm. Just goes to show what people can do if you believe in them, I guess.13

‘Hey Judy!’ she called. The pig grunted angrily in return. 14

‘Fine, have it your way, I’ll stand outside. You know, you shouldn’t be upset about your piglets. They had to go someday, you know. Better now than when they’re all grown up and they love you even more, huh?’ If any passerby had seen Micki talking to a pig, they would run right out of this insane little valley. But most locals knew that Judy wasn’t an ordinary pig. She was more of a ‘community pet’. And Micki was not the only one who talked to her, odd as it may seem. 15

Judy suddenly snorted and with one great effort, rammed into the tin gate and made a huge dent where Micki was leaning.16

‘Alright, you rotten old sow! Im off! And if you don’t shape up soon, I’ll personally see that it’s the abattoir for you!’17

With that, Micki chucked the empty pail on Judy’s head, scowled, and stalked off back home into the oncoming darkness. She loved that pig. Feeling carefree, she automatically started to hum.18

‘Oh, la Luna, la Luna19

The night we fell under the spell of the moon…’20

Sure enough, there was a full moon in the dimming sky, to the far east of the horizon, partially hidden by the town houses. The valley looked exceptionally pretty at night, on the outskirts of town. The sky was clear, the stars were just coming out, the whole town was asleep. Micki could see small billows of smoke rising from the silhouetted chimneys in town. A few windows were still aglow with yellow light, but apart from that, the scenery was in shades of silver and grey. It was a long time since Micki had been outside at night, and she savoured the fresh country air. The wind carried the scent of gentle smoke and delicate flowers, the kind Micki loved. Everything seemed to be perfect…oh no! Im late!21

Micki rushed up to the house and called out. ‘I’m home! Sorry I was late; I was feeding Shirley’s chooks! Mum?’22

‘MICHELLE JONES! HOW DARE YOU STAY OUT PAST DARK! AND I WAS SICK WITH WORRY ABOUT YOU! YOU WAIT TILL YOUR FATHER HEARS…HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME…YOU KNOW YOU ARENT ALLOWED TO STAY OUT LATE UNLESS YOURE IN TOWN! YOU KNWE IT WAS ABOUT TO GET DARK, SO WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO GO AND FEED MRS. DAVIDSON’S BLEEDIN’ CHOOKS FOR? NOT ONCE SINCE - ’23

Mrs. Joes trailed off suddenly, her eyes glistening. ‘Oh, come here, you,’ she said, and embraced her daughter. ‘If you ever do that again…I don’t know what I’m going to do with you!’24

‘Sorry, mum,’ Micki said, and grinned. As she went up to bed, she stopped by the bottle of deodorant that she wanted to give to Vicky and put it on he table where she could see it. 25

#26

Victoria Tenney grinned at her baby sister. She looked incredibly cute when she dumped her bowl of spinach on her head. 27

‘Aww…you did it again, Debbie. How many times have I told you? Don’t worry; I’ll soon have you cleaned up.’ Vicky went to the kitchen to look for a spare cloth. Slight and five foot six, she was an interesting person to look at. Her shoulder length curly blonde hair was hanging loose around her head, and her grey eyes glanced expressively over a small nose. She was always daydreaming and had a dry sense of humor, but could be very sensible and practical when she needed to be, sometimes excessively so. She was younger than Susanna by three months, born in late October, and considered herself the ‘middle sister’, both of the band and her household. Her real older brother was way older, and was studying somewhere in Florida. 28

Vicky drew her mind back to the first day in the valley. She had been only eleven years old, and had come from ‘the big smoke’. She remembered the sights, the sounds; everything had been so new to her. She had always been pretty mature for her age, being a city girl and all, but shed also been pretty stuck up. When she first heard she was moving out of Sydney, she had made a huge fuss. She hated to leave her comforts and taxis and the theater behind and come to the bush, in the middle of nowhere. Most of all, though, she had resented the idea of leaving Martha Loveday, her one and only best friend. She and Martha had been inseparable once upon a time, as good as twins. See, Martha looked almost exactly like Vicky to most people, and might as well have really been twins. They were the same height and weight, they looked pretty much the same, they dressed alike, they shared everything, even their handwriting was alike. Real twins probably couldn’t have got any closer than them. Everyone, from their friends to the teachers had mixed them up at least once. It seemed strange, but stranger things have happened. 29

Anyway, Vicky loathed leaving her friend behind. They were so desperate to be together that Martha tried hiding in the moving van. When their parents came to know of the scheme, they were extremely annoyed. Victoria and Martha had promised to keep in touch and visit as often as possible. 30

What actually happened, thought Vicky with a small sigh, is another story.31

When Vicky had set her first foot in her new house, she thought it smelt of…peppermint and horses. Vicky had always connected smells with different memories and situations. Her friends thought she was crazy, but she could walk into a shoe shop and say it smelt like the day she starred in the school play and crazy things like that. 32

Vicky had liked her new valley school and the people much more than she had planned to. She remembered how on the first day she had seen these two girls, who she later found out, were called Michelle and Susanna. She had been immediately attracted to Micki’s dress sense, although Vicky was practical, she loved a bit of colour. She had found so much colour in Micki just by looking at her. Her friend, Susanna, had been equally interesting. She was pretty and popular, and there was a sweetness and calmness and innocence about her, like she had just dropped from the clouds. The pair reminded her of herself and Martha. So happy together, they looked like they were meant to be. She had admired the fact that Michelle, being a year younger, could be best friends with sue. She longed to be friends with them, and every lunch break, she would sit in their veiwline, trying to catch their eye. Finally, the girl called Micki caught her staring at her on a day that Sue was absent. Vicky had looked away embarrassedly, almost ashamed to be looking at a ten year old country girl. But Micki had been so friendly, and she had a certain charm about her that made Vicky instantly want to protect her from harm, though what harm, she didn’t know. After a few minutes of awkward conversation, they found that they liked each other a lot, and that they enjoyed each others company. Vicky had been impressed by Micki’s reckless, daredevil spirit and her love for colour. Micki had liked Vicky’s grey eyes and her tinkling laugh. They had just clicked. 33

Their friendship had progressed from that day, but it was never anything really special. That was, until Vicky was in class one day, absently drumming a rhythm on her desk. She had not been concentrating on the lesson, and she had found herself whistling and beating the desk when the teacher threw her out of the class. Micki had come to her excitedly later, said she had heard about the whole incident from a classmate of Vicky’s, and asked her if she would like to join the band that she and sue had set up, they needed a drummer desperately. Vicky had hesitated at first, for two reasons. One was that she was still a bit of a city girl, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to join a band set up by a ten year old, and second, she wasn’t all that confident about playing the drums. When she told this to Micki, the determined girl had asked her brother, Michael, to train Vicky, and she had turned out an excellent drummer. There had been a little trouble with Susanna at first, but it was ironed out eventually and the band and the friendship had flourished (of course, at that time, they were still playing things like ‘happy Birthday to you’). Micki had always claimed that being younger than them wasn’t fair, because sue and Vicky got to spend almost the whole school day together, but the fact remained that none of them could ever leave dear Micki out of the relationship, besides, there was always the summer. 34

Vicky had believed that the summers had always been the best times of their lives. 35

She was the first (and only one) of the group to have a boyfriend, though. His name was Jacob, but about a year ago, they had broken up, because apparently, Vicki, at fourteen, was ‘too young’ for him, who was seventeen. It was a pretty messy break with lots of tears and bitterness, but Vicky knew that was to be expected. She had been too young for him, or anyone, for that matter. She coped with it pretty fast. They hadn’t heard or seen each other since, they didn’t even go to he same school, and he was supposed to have moved out of town. Vicky had never bothered to contact him, but deep down somewhere, she was thinking of calling him, that is, if she found out where he lived. She didn’t really have feelings for him now, but it would be nice to just be friends again. He and Michael used to be great friends, but after Michael died…. Well, after he died, Vicky never had the heart to mention Jacob in front of Micki. 36

The girl cleaned her sister up, and trudged up the stairs to start her summer project. Ugh. Summer project. The more she thought of it, the more she thought of the heat. I know what the Sahara desert feels like, now. Hah. Maybe I could do my report on that: my life in the valley – the next Sahara. She was actually supposed to write about an experience this summer that affected her. She was not really expecting anything too exciting to happen, except maybe discover that humans could melt. So she planned to write some rubbish essay on a made up summer camp or something.37

She sat down at her desk and gazed at the blank sheets. One could easily think that they’d walked into an 1850’s house and not Vicky Tenney’s room. Her furniture was well…vintage. It looked good when she added her style to it, though. The polished wood matched her person. It was the same with music. She had formed the band with Micki and Susanna four years ago, and now that they were actually writing their own stuff, she found she had a tendency towards the style of the Beatles and Johnny Cash. 38

‘I keep a close watch on this heart of mine39

I keep my eyes wide open all the time.40

I keep the ends out for the tie that binds41

Because you’re mine, I walk the line…’42

As she sung, Vicky decided she could not concentrate on her essay, shoved the paper in a drawer, and matter- of - factly went downstairs to play peek - a - boo with Debbie.43